reason to hide behind a mask, it's a freak scene! have a great halloween, be safe. we'll catch you tomorrow. patti ann: thank you! and happening now starts now. jenna: hi everybody, big show for you today, we're glad you're with us, happy halloween, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott, and "happening now", this fox news -- fox news election alert, presidential candidate herman cain places fire on several fronts, a report claiming that cain was accused of sexual harassment by two women in the 1990s, it's a report the cain campaign is denying. there are also new allegations about campaigning financing, the news comes as cain is surging in several national polls. jenna: chief political spores condoo correspondent carl cameron is working this live from washington. big picture, what are we to make of these reports? >> reporter: the cain campaign said they have known about the allegations for weeks and the story was going to surface, that during the '90s when cain

was the ceo of the national restaurant association at least two female subordinates complained about inappropriate langd behavior by dr. cain and they were given six figure settlement toss leave their jobs and keep quiet. mr. cain, the georgia businessman will be here in a matter of minutes to answer questions about this, but earlier he was at the person enterprise institute where there was a great deal of discussion about his 999 plan and he was asked about the allegations but basically dodged it. mr. cain and his aides have not specifically confirmed nor denied the allegations of sexual harassment but have suggested this is a left wing media smear out of political malice. they have not issued a definitive denial at this point but we're given to understand there will be a very, very strong one shortly. listen to what mr. cain said earlier: >> mr. cain is going to be at the national press club later in the day where he has some topics that are unrelated to fiscal policy that you'd like to ask him a question about, you can do that. >> i'll take all of the arrows then. >> there will be plenty of

them. in addition to the upcoming interview at fox he's going to be speaking to the national press club. mr. cain has signaled that there will be a strong denial forthcoming, and that there won't be any other additional allegations. there's an awful lot of conservatives and republican supporters around the country who want to see this ended. the political assessment to these situations is always, jenna, is that if there's any truth to it, get it out and get it out fast and if it's false, you have to deny it vociferously immediately. jenna: we'll see if we get that, carl, in about 15 minutes. again, this story just started to gain steam overnight, basically. is this the first time that you've heard about these allegations or rumors or rumblings of this story? >> no, there are always these types of rumors about candidates when they surge to the top of the polls. that's one of the things that cain supporters are suggesting, this is part of an attack by either rivals or the left wing media or the liberal left. this has been talked about for some time, the cain campaign has been aware the stories were going to come out. there hasn't been a specific

denial of the idea that there was a settlement. what the cain campaign has signaled is that the allegations of sexual harassment are false, that while there might have been some language that may have offended these women and some might have considered it inpro perhaps -- inappropriate it didn't cross the line of being sexual harassment and there is a prohibition if there was a gag order and settlement money that they keep silent that mr. cain and the women allegedly in question can't talk about in the first place. jenna: we'll talk about all of this with herman cain. carl, thank you very much for that break down, we appreciate it. also, of course, herman cain is going to be leaf live, with "happening now", the first sit down interview. that's coming up around 11:20 eastern time. jon: well, the aftermath of that deadly prewinter weather blast now. a record breaking october snowstorm socks the northeast this weekend, killing at least 12 people. schools are closed, and

millions left without power. drivers have a dangerous commute with falling trees and dangling power lines littering roads and that of course is going to impact trick or treating in many spots tonight. the killer storm dropped anywhere from a trace to a whopping 30 inches of wet, heavy snow from maryland to maine, which took a lot of people by surprise. >> did you expect anything like this on halloween weekend? >> absolutely not. this is a total shock. and then the devastation around, it's crazy. >> all of the sudden we heard the trees in the back yard falling and the branches all around falling, it was scaresy. >> as was as if the world were ending and everything was just slowly crashing down all around you. jon: david lee miller is live in well milford, new jersey right now. what's the latest on the aftermath, david? >> well, the temperatures are in their 50, the snow is starting to melt, but there's still plenty to go around. west milford, jon, received 19 inches of snow and as you

can see in front of the municipal building, there's still a great deal of melting that still has to take place. and behind me is a pear tree, and you can see the damage caused by this storm. what happened is, as you can see, the tree still has leaves, we are told at this time of the year, the trees here still have 50 to 80 percent of their leaves in tact, the snow adhered to the trees, the weight was too great and this tree like thousands of others simply collapsed, the branches collapsed like twigs, often taking with them power lines, and that's why we have now millions of people throughout the northeast that do not have power. one of them is with us, maureen finkelstein, she lives close to here, you're frustrated and angry. when are the lights going to come back on, what have you been told? >> we haven't been told anything. there's nobody giving us answers. the phones are busy, nobody is answering. our electric went out saturday afternoon, we have a generator that's keeping

heat going. i don't know how long the generator will hold up. so we have no electric, no phones, no tv, no internet. it's like being in the boon docks of alaska! i'm sure things are better up there. it's not acceptable. >> are you going to remain at home, can you remain at home with these conditions if power isn't restored? >> as long as we have the heat, i will stay there. if and when the generator stops working, i'm a senior, i can't stay in an icy house. >> reporter: we hope the situation improves soon, but we are told it could take days. thank you maureen. a short time ago, you may want to hear this, the governor held a news conference. he did say that there are some 1200 people, crews on the street, trying to remove the trees and thousand crews trying to restore the power but it could take days before the situation is back to normal. there are some 1300 shelters that have been set up in the

state of new jersey. there's one not far from where we're standing that is housing some 100 people, so it looks like those shelters are going to have to remain open for at least the next several days, as the authorities scramble to get the power back on. back to you in the studio. jon: in a word, it was unbelievable. unbelievable. david lee miller, thanks. jenna: new information crossing our international desk, as to the death of qaddafi, libya, the nato mission is over, but big concerns about the thousands of deadly weapons, including the chemical weapons that could find their way into the hands of terrorists. those are the reports. let's talk to catherine herridge about this. catherine, do we know how many chemical weapons libya has, that the libyans have, and can we confirm that they actually exist? >> thank you jeanne and good morning. we had confirmation sunday from the interim minister the chemical agents had been found in libya and session teams were on their way to libya to secure and destroy

them. debril said libya had no intention of maintaining the weapons and indicated the amount is reported to be nine metric tons of a mustard blister agent, libya is expected to have hundreds of tons of what's called a chemical weapons precursor material and assistant u.s. secretary of state has indicated over the weekend that they believe all of these weapons and these depots have been secured and have not been introan at this point, jenna. jenna: does that mean these helps can't be used at this time? >> >> reporter: well, there's really arary of debate as to the quality of these weapons and whether they're in a state that could be ready used for a chemical attack. as early as august the chair of the house intelligence committee said that libya had come clean on all wmd -- on some wmd programs but not and it was the chemical component that was the concern the most. >> with their agreement they gave us their weapons program, they gave us a lot of the chemical weapons, and the outlines of their biological program. but we know that they

experiment with serin gas we don't have that fully accounted for, and we know they have this very high grade mustard gas that is still available. >> officials told fox of where at least one depot is in the south of the country but at this time we're still trying to confirm whether this site is the same site identified by the transitional government in libya, jenna. jenna: more to this story, catherine, thank you very much. jon: he is now the frontrunner in the race for the presidential nomination. could new reports of sexual harassment derail the cain train? at an event earlier today, he did not address that issue. >> first i'd like to remind everybody that aei, when we have questions for someone at an event like this, the questions need to be about the topic at hand, and mr. cain is going to be at national press club later in the day where if you have some topics related to fiscal policy that you would

like -- and i'll take all of the arrows later. jon: he probably will have to take the arrows because in a few minutes herman cain will be joining "happening now", with an exclusive interview, jenna will be speaking with him in 5-10 minutes. jenna: we're looking forward to that, what's the truth here. also, could health care reform kill off employer-provided health insurance? what could be mean a pain in the pocketbook for consumers. jon: passengers on a jetblue plane stuck on the tarmac for more than seven hours, overflowing toilets, infants out of diapers, sick people on board, the pilot pleading for help. the whole harrowing tale, coming up. [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm

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jon: a fox news alert. coming up in a few minutes,

"happening now", we'll talk exclusively with republican presidential candidate herman cain, this after explosive accusations on two fronts. according to the website plit corks two women claimed cain sexually harassed them a decade ago or more when he was head of the national restaurant association. his campaign denies those allegations. we'll hear from the candidate himself. there are also accusations of possible violations of campaign funding laws. joining us now with some content and analysis, managing editor of the hill, bob cusack. bob, are these the kinds of allegations that sort of always surface whenever a candidate rises to the top? does the campaign attract this kind of scrutiny? >> certainly when you run for president, herman cain ran for senate before and this kind of information didn't come out, but when you run for president, everything is fair game, and this is a troubling time for herman cain. ce survive it, absolutely. it's how you deal with the problem. i just saw him in the green room, he is upbeat, he's

defiant, i think he's going to be aggressive in impacting these charges. but it remains to be seen how big of a hit he take -- he takes at the polls, this could be something that rick perry rise necessary the polls if cain can't get this story off the front pages over the next several days. jon: in the waning days of the campaign, what president george w. bush waged against vice president gore, it was disclosed that he had received that drunk driving citation, in fact, fox news broke that story. didn't do his campaign any good, but that came in the waning days, i mean, just a vote was to be held. if you're going to get bad news out, you might as well get it out now. >> this is a key stretch for her main contain but -- quain but it's not right before the iowa caucus. you want to address it aggressively.

some operatives have questioned whether cain has the staffing or organization to deal with this type of a story and that's why herman cain is going to go on fox and handle this himself and i think he's going to see a very aggressive candidate going at it and herman cain supporters, a lot them are fervent and think he's also going to attack the media and attack the washington beltway, attack washington, and that goes over well. jon: and in suggest thank if there's bad news to be gotten out, you want to do it now, i'm not even giving credence to the story, i mean, these accusations are somewhat neb u lous, they go back to the 1990s, apparently, and they were supposed to have been, at least the sexual harass melt allegations, the results of it were supposed to have been sealed. >> that's right, this was supposed to remain quiet, that was part of the agreement, that's what voters may say, listen, this is ancient history, we want to talk about the 999 tax plan, we want to talk about his vision for the future, but certainly it's how you deal with it. bill clinton dealt with some major problems when he ran

for president on infidelity charges, but he dealt with them very well. george w. bush, as you mentioned, those charges that came out in the waning days of the 2000 election, he dealt with it fairly well and was able to win. so can herman cain, survive, yes, but it remains -- i think this interview is going to be very, very telling. jon: interesting. the campaign finance laws are incredibly tough to keep up with. can his organization say that, okay, we just weren't aware that these so called violations were actually violations? >> well, he can make that case, and certainly, candidates have made that case, ignorance, listen, i didn't know these were the rules. will it fly, i think it matters about not whether he gets fined or anything like that, it's the court of public opinion. that's what herman cain is most concerned with now and that's -- he's a very likable gierks that'sy has risen in the polls, and can he remain likable, can he deal with these charges and

dealing with them without being defensive. that's going to be the key for herman cain today. jon: doesn't it depend upon what the meaning of the word "is" is? >> yeah, potentially. that's why you don't want to -- you want to deal with these issues of not in a legal way, but in a straightforward way. jon: bob cusack from the hill, thanks. >> thanks. jenna: we'll see if herman cain takes bob's advice. coming up in a few minutes we're going to tackle these questions swirling around herman cain and his campaign. it's his first interview since the story broke. "happening now" explosive interview with herman cain, next.

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jon: some developing stories we're keeping an eye on in the newsroom and from our control room a. homicide bombing rocks southern afghanistan. five people killed, including three employees of

the united nations refugee agency. we'll have more on this story in a live report from afghanistan, coming up. >> boeing, taking over the space shuttle hangar at the kennedy space center. as the aircraft giant works to build its own space capsule, the move is expected to create 550 jobs over the next four years. a new amy winehouse album set to be released just weeks from now in december, island records saying it will feature 12 songs, including previously unreleased tracks. this release comes just a few months after the grammy winning soul singer died, apparently from accidental alcohol poisoning. jenna: well, we've been telling you about a new report rocking the campaign of gop presidential candidate herman cain. a report that claims two women accused him of sexual harassment in the 1990s. there's also a new report, a separate one, of possible

campaign finance violations. now this, news comes as cain is surging ahead of gop frontrunner mitt romney, in a new demoines register poll, that's not the only poll, in fact. here to set the record straight, 2012gop presidential candidate herman cain. herman, nice to have you back on the program with us. >> jenna, delighted to be here. jenna: let's start with the truth. that's always the best place to start. what is the truth about these allegations of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct? have you ever been accused at any time of either? >> yes. i have never sexually harassed anyone, let's say that. secondly, i've never sexually harassed anyone, and yes, i was falsely accused while i was at the national restaurant association, and i say falsely, because it turned out, after the investigation, to be baseless. the people mentioned in that article were the ones who would be aware of any

misdoings, and they have attested to my integrity and my character. it is totally baseless, and totally false, never have i committed any sort of sexual harassment. jenna: have you ever had to settle a claim, falsely accused or not, sometimes a settlement happens when a false accusation is made. have you ever had to settle a claim, giving money, or paid someone because a claim of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct. >> outside of the restaurant association, absolutely not. if the restaurant association did a settlement , i am not -- i wasn't even aware of it and i hope it wasn't for much, because nothing happened. so if there was a settlement, it was handled by some of the other officers that worked for me at the association. so the answer is absolutely not. jenna: herman, so just to be clear, you have never sexually harassed anyone, but yes, you believe you have been falsely accused of

sexual harassment. >> correct. >> jenna: are we going to hear about any other allegations in the future? are there more allegations to come like this? >> absolutely not. if more allegations come, i assure you, people will simply make them up. i was aware of the false accusations that took place at the restaurant association, and then when we were asked for me to comment, they wanted for this to be from two anonymous sources. we weren't going to go and chase anonymous sores. but take a look at the article is what i encourage people to do and look the a the people who have attested to my character and my integrity. jenna: what's next as far as this goes? what's the next step for the campaign? will you be speaking about this further, do you feel like it needs further explanation? what can we expect from your team, as far as handling any more allegations in the future? >> first of all, as i indicated, the only other

allegations will be trumped up allegations. there is nothing there. secondly, what you can expect from my campaign is for me to stay on message, for us to continue to do the things and execute our strategy in order to win the nomination. now, obviously, some people are going to be turned off by this cloud that someone wanted to put over my campaign, but a lot of people aren't going to be turned off. we will just have to wait and see what happens. but let me say one more time, jenna: i have never sexually harassed anyone, anyone, and absolutely, these are false accusations. jenna: moving on to another report today that came out of the wisconsin journal centinal, this having to do with campaign financing, and skipping around a little bit, but this, of course, is also important. this report talks about your chief of staff, also your deputy chief of staff, that had a private corporation,

the reports say funded different parts of your campaign early on. now, there is some question about whether or not this private corporation was paid back for some of these expenses and if they hadn't, that could be a violation of tax law, it could be a violation of campaign law as well. will we see any amendments to your sec filings, will there be any change to some of the your financial disclosures in the future? >> i'm not aware of this report, so my staff does not have time to go through t. and so i'm not aware of it, they're not aware of it. we are going to look at the report and see if there is any validity, so at this point i can't say that there would be a modification, because we don't know at this point whether or not it's true or not. so we'll have to wait until we look at it. but we will take a look at t but at this point, i didn't even know about the report until you brought it up on the show. jenna: we're going to follow up with you on that and we appreciate your response to that question. let's talk a little about the campaign itself. >> good! >> jenna: you had positive results over the weekend

having to do with the demoines register, for example, in iowa, you're on top there, as we look at a new poll out of texas that has you leading the governor there, rick perry, which is also significant, we wanted to point out to our viewers about that, you touched on this a little earlier, but because of the reports and because they're so new, i'd just like to ask you how you plan on addressing them on the campaign, how do you think this is going to affect viewers and voters. what's the message to the voters now that we see the results but we also have these reports? >> my message to my supporters is quite simple. we are going to stay on message. these accusations and others that may come up, they will continue to find out that they are baseless. we are going to leverage this momentum by continuing to stay with the message, and that is one of the themes that i believe that has attracted so many people to my candidacy is that i have proposed bold specific solutions like my 999 plan. within the next couple of

weeks, we are going to announce our energy independence strategy. we also talked about my foreign policy philosophy. so we are gradually doing that, and because i'm specific and bold with some of these proposals, that's what's resonating with people, and i think, i believe, that that's what's being reflected in many of these polls that are coming out. >> jenna: let me ask you about just your personal life as well. as you go further down this campaign trail, people want to know more about you. that's why sometimes these reports get a lot of traction, they want to know about your character, your integrity, your family. we are yet to meet your better half, and i'm editorializing there, but gloria, your wife of more than 40 years. when we will see her on the campaign trail, when will i see more of your family out there, when will we get to know that side of you? >> you will meet my wife publicly in an exclusive interview that we are currently planning and anticipating, but you won't see my family out on the campaign trail on a day to day basis, and that's

because it was a conscious decision, because my adult daughter with her kids, she has a life, my son, he has children, they have a life, and my wife represents that calm and tranquility that i look forward to getting, seeing when i get home. she will be introduced in terms of some limited exposure, but it's not her style for her to be with me on every campaign stop because number one, it's grueling, and i want her to continue to be the knewcallious for that calm an tranquility you want for your family. i'm an unconventional candidate as you know and we're running an unconventional campaign and the involvement of my family is also going to be unconventional, although you will see them on a selective basis. jenna: we look forward to meeting them. i appreciate your time today. herman, thank you for joining us and we'll be talking to you soon, sir, thank you. >> thank you jenna, enjoyed it. jon: well, a halloween trick, courtesy of mother

nature, as the northeast cleans up from a record october storm. the mess could mean trouble for trick or treaters in this part of the country. and what should have been a routine flight turns into an absolute nightmare. passengers trapped inside the plane on the tarmac for seven hours. plus, without working bathrooms. the pilot, pleading for any kind of help he can get. >> yes, we've resolved it for now. we've got a show of authority on board but i have a paraplegic or board -- on board that needs to come off, i have a diabetic that's got an issue. i just have a list of things. i've just got to get some help. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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>> reporter: this flight was diverted for seven hours at hartford's airport during the storm. passengers said the plane ran out of food, water and the lavatory stopped working. >> the bathrooms are filled and they cannot go to the bathroom any more. there is no running water: everybody is very on edge. >> reporter: the jetblue pilot was even so frustrated at one point he called for the cops. >> we can't seem to get any help from our own company. i apologize for this. but is there any way you can get a tug and a tow bar out here to

us and get us towed somewhere to a quit or something? i don't care. take us anywhere. >> jetblue 504 roger. i will talk to state operation and see what they can do. were you able to resolve the situation in the back or is that still ongoing. >> yes, we've resolved it for now. we've got the show of authorities on board. i have a paraplegic on board that needs to come o. i have a diabetic on here that's got an issue. there are a list of things. i've just got to get some help. >> reporter: jetblue says, quote the airport experienced intermittent power outages which made refueling and dephra*eupbg difficult. we apologize to the customers impacted by this confluence of events. the government instituted new rules limiting tarmac delays being stuck in the plane for three hours on domestic

flights. if they find out that jetblue violated the rules they can be fined $300,000. jenna: it would be nice if the money went directly to the passenger. at that point maybe that's what it's worth having to stay on the plane like that. thank you very much. appreciate the update on that report. to jon in acquisitions, jon. jon: here in acquisitions as you know we bring in satellite feeds from all over the world, really. take a look at the remote 218, the dow down 145 right now on concerns about a company led by former new jersey governor john corsyn. the white house set to welcome former british prime minister tony blair today. beautiful day at the white house right now. it wasn't looking like that yesterday, that's when the big snowstorm hit. 243 shows some of the at math in millford, new jersey. trees down, power lines down.

it will be a while before the northeast gets back on its feet. remote 291, some of the snow accumulations totals. new jersey, new york, massachusetts and connecticut accumulated them. maria row lean a as a look at it. >> reporter: we really got hit hard across the northeast with a rare october northeast tere. central park saw its greatest amount of snow ever reported for the month of october. a rare storm system. just to recap some of the snow totals that we did see from the snow system, over parts of west virginia we did pick up quite of it as well in west millfor, new jersey, which you pointed out that footage, 19 inches of snow out there. in massachusetts and new hampshire really hit hard with over 30 inches of snow out there. of course it's going to take a lot of time for the inches of snow to begin to melt across interior portions of the northeast. for trick-or-treaters heading

out tonight we are not expecting any additional snowfall across parts of the northeast, nonetheless the snow will be on the ground and something to keep in mind. during the daytime hours when temperatures get above freezing some of it will melt. then it will refreeze when it gets below freezing again. you could be looking at slippery sidewalks. trick-or-treaters need to keep that in mind. it should be generally dry. isolated showers possible along the interior portions of the northeast, showers and heavier downpours in eastern parts of virginia, north carolina and florida really getting hit hard with rain right now. and most of that is forecast to move off-shore, nonetheless you'll be looking at downpours throughout the evening hours out there. grab the umbrella and make it a part of your costume if you are headed outdoors. further out to the west for halloween evening cool temperatures, denver 48 and looking at more snow, yes, jon some more snow with another storm that is going to intensify tonight in the rockies. jon: a lot of kids going

trick-or-treating as snowmen at least in the northeast. >> reporter: that is a good idea. jenna: the future of employer provided health coverage could be at risk. a new survey conducted by an independent research firms finds that 30% of employers will definitely, or probably stop offering company sponsored health coverage once the new healthcare law kicks in. jim angl is taking a look at this live from washington. >> reporter: a survey of businesses three years before the new healthcare law takes full effect found that 30% of them, as you said, are already considering dropping employer-provided health insurance because lower wage employees have an ol ter alternative. they'll be able to go on to government mandated insurance exchanges and receive generous subsidies until their income is over 80,00

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jenna: a sequel to solyndra, taxpayers footing the bill as another green company goes belly up, beacon power corporation, it just filed for bankruptcy after receiving tens of millions of your tax dollars. elizabeth mcdonald as always looking into this for us from the fox business network. what's the deal behind this company? >> reporter: what the deal is, a year ago, it got a guarantee from the department of energy for $43 million. it used $39 million of that loan, and on top of that, jenna t. got reportedly stimulus money, it got about $25 million in federal stimulus money and it also got state money as well, at least another 4-$5 million out of new york and pennsylvania to help it with its plan. so you know, a lot of

taxpayer money went toward this company. the other upside for taxpayers is the government is saying that taxpayers do have first dibs on the assets of this beacon power clean energy bankruptcy, separate from solyndra, where taxpayers do not have first dibs on about $75 million of the solyndra assets. jenna: we have the potential to get paid back more on this sphwhun. >> we have the potential to get more from the beacon bankruptcy versus the solyndra bankruptcy. jenna: doesn't say much for the white house, though, what does the white house say? >> they have ordered a review by the former treasury official herb allison, he has to come back in 60 days with a report on how they're fixing the loan guarantee program at the department department of energy. that's separate from the federal stimulus money going out the door. on top of that the house panel is intending to file subpoenas to get more information about solyndra and that loan guarantee. jenna: we'll see what comes out. thank you for being with us, jon.

jon: does it feel more crowded to you today, maybe on your commute or on the sidewalk? there's a reason for that. the seventh billonth baby on born was just born. the news sparks fears of overpopulation. we'll take a look at what it means for you, besides less elbow room. >> a abandoned new warning from syria as that iron fisted ruler tells the west to bring it on, threatening that any intervention in his brutal crackdown could trigger a, quote, earthquake that would burn the whole region. would he do it? what does it mean? and what, if anything, should the u.s. do? that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

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jon: we have heard a lot about the worries over loose weapons in qulaib, missiles, rocket propelled grenades and other serious firepower that could get into the hands of terrorists if it

isn't already. now, there are chilling claims from libya's own new government. two chemical weapons sites found there. libya is asking the world community for help in dealing with this discovery of wmds. let's talk about it with david shank every, director of the program on arab politics at the washington institute for ner east policy, also a former middle east adviser to secretary of defense rumsfeld. were you at all surprised that the libyan government announced it has chemical weapons? >> no, not at all. in the aftermath of u.s. invasion of iraq, the libyan government got caught red handed with centrifuges and decided to come clean rather than risk getting attacked. part of the deal that we had to take them off the terrorism list and rehabilitate them was that they would let us have full access to dismantle their nuclear program and take apart their chemical weapons program, but they've been dragging their feet on that and there was quite an arsenal there that we had to take care of and it wasn't

done and of course during the war, the liberation of libya, all these sites were left insecure, and there are weapons everywhere. jon: certainly a hopeful sign, though, that the new government there wants help in getting rid of these things. >> well, it's a positive, and hopefully they'll ask us to track them down. in the international community, we'll see -- let's see if people go on the ground. i don't think there's much of a u.s. stomach to send boots in there but certainly if they find them u.s. has the cooperative threat reduction, an agency, actually, that specializes in taking apart these type of weapons and making them harmless. jon: so here you had moammar qaddafi who was brutalizing his own people, using his military to kill them by the hundreds if not the thousands, nato established that no fly zone and, poof, moammar qaddafi is gone. yes, it took eight months, but he's gone. now all of sudden bashar al assad, in a country where he's been brutalizing his

own people, using his own military, is saying that if there is that kind of a western reaction in syria, the whole earth in that part of the world, he says, is going to burn. are those just empty threats, is he really concerned about his future stability and maybe kind after nato campaign? >> no, he's very concerned about his disposition, whether he's going to stay in power. this is a terrorist regime, and they've been terrorizing the region for years. they have threatened us before, and they've threatened even ban ki-moon. in 2005, they threatened ban ki-moon that they would threaten the region on fire if the international community moved ahead with a tribunal to investigate the murder of the former lebanese prime minister, they threatened the u.s. ambassador to lebanon, the syrian government did. so this is not unusual. they threatened the europeans, actually, only recently, that if they sanctioned the government of syria to killing nearly 3000 of its own citizen, that

european interests would be at risk, and in fact, we saw this shortly after that, that the syrians or somebody in southern lebanon attacked a european contingent of the u.n. security force. so sometimes they follow up. jon: nice to see him nervous. let's see what happens in syria in particular. david shenker, thank you. >> thank you. jenna: this is still a big story, missouri police working around the clock to search for baby lisa, combing through more than 900 leads since that little girl vanished a month ago. the latest on that investigation coming up. plus, his campaign, left for dead, but suddenly, newt gingrich is coming back to life. it depends upon who you talk to, of course, for either of those claims. why the former speaker's run for the white house is now gaining steam.

jenna: herman cain that, is the man of the hour, or of the day so far, poping in the polls, landing in the

hot seat. we had an exclusive interview with him and we're glad you were with us for that. i'm jenna lee. jon: making news there. i'm jon scott. the republican presidential candidate just addressing an explosive new report in an exclusive interview with "happening now". jenna asked him about a claim of sexual harassment that dates back to the 1990s. >> never have i committed any sort of sexual harassment. jon: bret baier is the anchor of "special report". you know, it's not often you get a politician who makes a direct doanl a claim like that, and this was pretty direct. >> it was, jon. i talked to him in the green room here in washington for a while and asked him other questions. i thought jenna did a great job laying out that interview and trying to pin him down on those specifics. and the main question was if this wasn't out there, did he know about it. he said yes, he knew about it, but that they were baseless claims, as he said on the interview here on the show. he also said that there is

not another shoe to drop. he said if there's another shoe dropping, somebody is making up that shoe. you know, how the cain campaign and how herman cain deals with this in the next 24, 36, maybe 72 hours, depending upon how this story develops, will be the key to the rest of his campaign. and you saw him address it here, i think he'll be on other shows, he's on "iron the record" tonight with greta and he'll be on center seat tomorrow with my panel with "special report". this is a key moment for the campaign and we'll see how much damage, or if damage is done by these allegations. jon: well, and it often seems to happen this way, to players of both parties, that the higher you rise in the polls, the more dirt that seems to come out about you, and you know, often, that comes from opposing campaigns. it's always a little neb u lous where these things come from. >> sure, where they generate from.

however, it's important to note a couple of things about this story. we -- you know, politico first reported this story and we don't know the specific allegations. we have a broad view of what these two women say about sexual harassment, and the fact that the restaurant association, according to politico, made a payment to them. herman cain says he does not know about that payment. and you know, as he said on your show, he hopes it wasn't a lot, because it wasn't true, they were false allegations. but as far as the specifics, and what the stories are, since both of these women are anonymous, until they come forward or we know more specifics, you wonder how far this story will go. it clearly is a hiccup for the campaign that was on a -- really a skyrocketing trajectory in all of the polls. jon: yeah, nobody likes to have this kind of thing pop up when, you know, if they're running for dog catcher, but he made, again,

that very direct and full-throated denial. let's play again the interview he did with jenna: >> i've never sexually harassed anyone, and yes, i was falsely accused while i was at the national restaurant association, and i say falsely, because it turned out, after the investigation, to be baseless. jon: well, again, pretty direct. i guess most p.r. experts would say if you're going to deal with these kinds of accusations, that's the way to deal with them. >> sure. and it's important, also, to know that the campaign knew about this for, according to politico, ten days, to respond to this story. so they knew it was coming. the initial reaction caught some analysts in washington by surprise, as far as the thought that maybe the campaign should get ahead of it. i asked herman cain about that. he said we just didn't want to validate what we know, that what i know, he said,

were false accusations. so how he handles it, again, over the next 24 hours will be key to his campaign, because clearly, people are identifying with him for somebody who is a straight talker, who is not a politician, and that in this environment, seems to be attractive. jon: well, and they also like the fact that he's a family guy, a guy who has seen -- well, seems to have by his boot straps picked himself up to a very successful position, and even, you know, it bears mentioning that as head of the national restaurant association, he was a very successful business leader, and perhaps an attractive target from -- i'm not making up excuses for him, here, but he could have been an attractive target for somebody who thought they could squeeze a little money out of his pocket. >> sure. but we, again, don't know the specifics of those allegations, all of them, and we don't know if there is another shoe, jon, and h. man cain insists there isn't, but if there is, then this is a devastating moment

for the campaign. if there isn't, and he effectively deals with it as he aggressively did on this show, one would think that the story eventually goes away. but, again, there are so many question markings at this point that we just don't know. jon: his rise in the public opinion polls has gone from steady to spectacular, he now sits at the top in money of these polls. we'll see what happens from this day forward. bret baier, thank you. be sure to tune in at 6:00 p.m. eastern time for "special report" with bret, he will give you today's news, and i got to think this is going to be the lead story. jenna: herman cain, obviously the big news of the day. of course we want to keep you updated on the other candidates and the other angles for 2012 as well at america's election headquarters. and right now, newt gingrich is rising in the polls. may not have seen that too much. his campaign is picking up speed, gaining support after struggling to get off the ground. shan yn bream has more.

>> reporter: in this race beginning arrive says he's the tortoise, not the hare and that seems to be mirroring out as strategy in his campaign. when the potential gop primary voters were asked who they'd like to see as the nominee, it was 9 percent, and then to 11 percent and now he's at 12 percent. over that time period we've seen similar movement in the polling that looks at favorables which has been slowly climb fog gingrich and unfavorables which have been going down for the former house speaker, but even as he's making progress analysts say gingrich has significant challenges ahead >> the negative he that he faces are two fold. one is money, takes a lot of money, obviously, to get your message on the air to reach as many voters as possible, and organization. if he wants to be successful in iowa, he needs a very well organized ground game, the boots on the ground, and he doesn't have it right now >> reporter: gingrich acknowledged at least one of

those hurdles while speaking in south carolina this weekend: >> i need your help. i don't have -- this is not -- you know, i don't have the kind of money that my major competitors have, but i think i can have vastly more people than they're going to have, and with your help, i also believe i'm the only candidate who is capable of fundamentally disrupting and replacing the left in washington, d.c. >> reporter: and for a bit of historical perspective, gingrich is also pointing to his third place finish in last week's cbc "new york times" poll, that's exactly where senator john mccain finished in 2007 before of course he went on to win the nomination. jenna: and our history buffs reminded me that next spring is a long time away and it's a good reminder for all of us. thank you very much. >> uh-huh. jon: we are awaiting a major announcement from the white house right now, the president expected to sign an executive order today as part of his we can't wait campaign. he's hoping to spur economic growth while pushing for congress to get to work on

his economic plan. senior white house foreign affairs correspondent wendell goler, live at the white house with more. wendell. >> reporter: jon, it's the latest in the series of executive orders the president has signed which folks at the white house say are aimed at getting past a congress known as far as folks here are concerned for its inaction, though republicans say the real goal is scoring political points. now, we're 178 -- there were 178 drug shortages reported last year, most involving cancer drugs, anesthetics, drugs used in emergency medicine. they tend to be expensive drugs and mr. obama is concerned the shortages raise the possibility of price gouging, in addition to putting patients at risk, so he's ordered drug makers to notify the food and drug administration six months ahead of a potential shortage. that's effectively a new regulation. republicans say excess ef government regulations are strangling the private sector's ability to create jobs and extending the impact of the recession. but the drug order follows

orders expanding refinancing options for people whose mortgages are under water and easing student loan repayment requirement, and mr. obama said last week there will be more. >> we're going to look every single day to figure out what we can do without congress. what can we do without them. steps that can save you money and make government more efficient and responsive and help heal this economy. >> meanwhile, republicans say the best way for the president to create jobs is to work with them on job creating legislation, and a spokesman for house speaker john boehner says two can play at the not waiting game. he says house republicans will pass a couple of bills aimed at creating job creation and send them to the senate where they firmly expect democrats will basically sit on them. meanwhile there is actually bipartisan legislation aimed at addressing some of the issues covered by the president's executive order. white house officials won't

say why the president doesn't simply push that through congress. jon. jon: wendell goler at the white house. wendel, thank you. jenna: a brazen attack on the u.n. in afghanistan, in the southern city of kandahar. homicide car bombers, apparently setting off an explosion just outside a checkpoint where u.n. and other -- for u.n. and other international aid offices. conor powell is live with the latest. >> reporter: kandahar city is an area of afghanistan that u.s. commanders like to hold up as an example of improving security, but for afghans in kandahar city today, all they saw was yet another attack. it began about 6:00 a.m. as the sun was beginning to rise, a car full of explosives rammed into a security checkpoint, then other insurgents ran into this neighborhood where the u.n. and a budge of other ngos and aid groups were based. we believe five people were killed. the numbers have been shifting a bit right now but we've been told recently that five people were killed and three of them were workers for the united nations.

now, this attack comes on the heels of another attack here in kabul where a handful of americans were killed a. canadian and 17 people in total were killed. now, these attacks really do cast doubt on whether or not the afghan security forces are really up to the task of handling security here in afghanistan. kandahar city is one of the cities that is likely going to be transitioned over to afghan security forces in the near future, but today's attack, like the attack on kabul here over the weekend, they really do raise questions about whether or not the afghans are yet prepared and fully able to handle security. the u.s. military says regardless, security will begin to be handed over to the afghans not only in places like the capitol city in kabul, but kandahar city. it's part of getting the afghans ready for when u.s. troops do decide to withdraw, but today's attack is a dangerous sign of what may lay ahead as u.s. troops begin to pull out of afghanistan, particularly in the southern parts where the taliban has been so strong. jenna: an important story for us today, conor, thank

you very much for that. jon: well, the secrets of an international spy. what fbi tapes reveal about this woman, yan chapman, an other secret signatures -- agents linked to an international spy ring. plus a desperate search for this girl, what missouri police are now saying about the investigation into the disappearance of baby lisa and why a lawyer for her parents say she is no longer parents say she is no longer representing the family. that make kids happy. and even fewer that make moms happy too. with wholesome noodles and bite sized chicken, nothing brings you together like chicken noodle soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. with professional-grade research. and some of the most powerful, yet easy to use trading tools on the planet. it's investing with intelligence and cold hard conviction. e-trade. investing unleashed.

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jon right now new info on crime stories we're keeping an eye on, texas police find a female body matching the description of jazz min gonzales but they cannot confirm whether it is, in fact, the missing ten-year-old, however, police say they may have a person of interest, apparently towing away a pickup truck outside the apartment where jazz min disappeared. >> a suspect arrested in the death of a us airways flight attendant, nick erinson was

found dead, reportedly found tied up and appeared to have been strangled. new surveillance video she did light on a russian spy ring, the fbi case includes secret meetings between several agents, including this woman, yan chapman, she was thrust into the international spotlight shortly after her true identity as a russian spy was revealed. jenna: kansas the city attorney holding a news conference this morning on the search for little lisa irwin, attorney cyndy short saying her office will continue to help even though she's no longer representing lisa's parents. investigators say they followed more than 900 tips since the 11 month old baby disappeared and still they have no leads today and with less than 100 tips left they're starting to get worried or at least that's the way we're classifying it. mike tobin with the latest, are they starting to get worried, mike? >> reporter: i think they're always worried when the trail starts to go dry

but right now the developments are all about the attorneys and the spat that's boiled up, ky -- cyndy short that represents the family for nine days held that conference that saying despite being dismissed she's going to continue fattouho gathering facts and the team broke up eventually because she could not get along with joe tacopin ancht the high profile new york attorney. she said one had to go and that someone was me. short says she believes in the innocence of deborah bradley and jeremy irwin, she believes in the approach that she and 17 volunteers took to this case, where they were working the ground there in kansas city. disagrees very strongly with the approach of joe tacopina >> our approaches were very different. i was here for ten days, working on the case, and mr. tacopina was in rome. >> now, tacopina responded that this is about a missing little girl. he said the fact that she, meaning short, is calling a press conference after being

dismissed from the case to say she still wants to be involved speaks for itself. baby lisa has been missing for 28 days. jenna: a good point to remember, mike, thank you very much. jon: on the west coast, a key defense witness for dr. conrad murray facing intense questioning today about the death of michael jackson. what the prosecution thinks of the defense theory that michael jackson brought about his own death. plus, a teenager creates a spooky way to scare up donations, all for a very good cause. we'll talk to him about his amazing haunted house and his devotion to it, coming his devotion to it, coming up. what makes scottrade your smartphone's most powerful trading app ? total access - to everything. from idea to research to trade. including financials, indicators and real-time streaming quotes.

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jon nato is wrapping up operation necessary lib yarks officially ending the seven-month campaign which eventually led to the downfall of moammar qaddafi. david piper is in tripoli, streaming live. david. >> reporter: jon, yes, nato's secretary general, and degrees rasmussen, in tripoli, said he was proud in what role nato played in getting rid of qaddafi. they conducted 20,000sortes and hit 70,000 targets. the nato chief says they fulfilled their mandate now, for the national transitional council had asked that nato carry on its mission until december, because they feared that qaddafi loyalists could still create incidents here. but, of course, it has been seen as a success. but there has been criticism from countries like china and also, russia, over extending its mandate. they d. in fact, protect these revolutionary fighters, allowing them to build up their forces and,

finally, overpowering the qaddafi regime. also, today, hillary clinton has received some praise for her work during the revolution. it seems one european diplomat says she was the person behind the scenes, holding nato together. now, these french mirage planes flew over the mediterranean back on march 19th, to hit qaddafi's tanks as they bore down on benghazi where the revolution was based, and they hit and destroyed those tanks, but it seemed the italians were particularly upset by this individual action by the french. she managed to keep that together, bring a lot of the arab states on board and keep this operation going, and when she came here just over a week ago, she seemed to have some real interest in what's happening here and got some of those injured fighters back to america on a flight over the weekend. also, this time, a lot of

the focus is on one of qaddafi's sons, saif al islam, in neighboring azur and according to the criminal court he's indirectly negotiate wg them over perhaps heading to the hague for a trial there. it seems at the moment, jon, he doesn't fancy justice here in libya. back to you 679 jon: david fieper, streaming live from libya, thank you. jenna: right now, questions for a defense witness in the manslaughter trial of dr. conrad murray, prosecutors are cross-examining a witness that said jackson could have given himself a fatal overdose. adam housley is live at the courthouse with more. >> reporter: a lot of people believe this is a key moment in the case, the prosecutor, david walgren came out to begin the cross-examination of paul white, the star witness for the defense team, on a half day thursday, a half day friday, saying he doesn't believe the prosecution's

theory at all and the way it was set up wouldn't have worked in his mind. well, the prosecutor came out during cross-examination with both barrels blazing. i mean, david wall street algr nevment has not held back at all, cutting off the witness at times, going after him, making sure he answers his questions exactly. at some points, even having the witness, you can see dr. white, becoming a bit flustered at times. eats really going after this witness, and from the outset, he got dr. white to admit that the care that was being provided by dr. murray, to michael jackson, wasn't normal. take a listen: >> do you agree that there are instances where dr. murray deviated from the standard of care in his treatment of michael jackson on june 25th, 2009? >> yes i would. >> and would you agree that there are instances where dr. murray deviated from the standard of care in the preceding two-months of treatment as relayed by dr. murray in his statement to the police? >> yes i would. >> once again, that's the

star witness for the defense, admitting to the prosecutors that dr. murray didn't necessarily follow the standard type of care that should be given to a patient. that's the one answer that's really been giving the defense team trouble. they haven't been able to answer that from any of their witnesses, every time a witness takes the stand for the defense team, the prosecutor definitely asks that question, is this a normal way to care for a patient, and so far, the defense witnesses haven't been able to answer that as being yes, and that is one thing that a lot of legal analysts have been talking to us about here, continue to point out, and it's clear as you watch the testimony. once again, jenna, this cross-examination as it goes on live inside, began this morning at # 45:00 so they're 15 minutes ahead of schedule. they were supposed to begin at 9:00, once the witness is off the stand, the defense is expected to rest, although there's that slight possibility that dr. murray could take the stand in his own above, on his own above -- behalf, i should say, then the prosecution is expected to call rebuttal witnesses and if everything goes as planned this could

go to the jury by mid week but who knows in this case. this schedule has not been on schedule begins the -- since the beginning. jenna: we'll continue to watch it. adam housley, thank you. jon: there is a new financial trend sweeping the nation and we're thought -- not just talking about the cash that jenna has stuffed under other mattress. why americans are turning their backs on traditional banks and where they are taking their business now. also, a teenager with a very special halloween handout. how his hard work is helping thousands in need. it's great story, coming up next. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan. you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, to help you choose the plan that's right for you. as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. jenna: well, apparently fed up by too many fees, more americans are turning their backs on banks and flocking to credit unions instead. jonathan serrie is live in atlanta with all the details on this. hi, jonathan. >> reporter: hi, jenna. new debit card fees are driving this, so many consumers are upset because they're not used to having to pay fees for this service. watch this. >> do you have a debit card -- >> reporter: leslie is switching to a credit union because she's upset with new fees at major banks. >> they you to have a debit card, and now all of a sudden you're having to pay to have the

privilege of having it. >> what's yours? >> my what? >> your fee pays. >> reporter: this tv is running in bank of america's hometown. it's seen a 350% increase in online account applications. nationally, traffic to this credit union locater web site has more than tripled. >> when you open up an account, you become an owner of your credit union where banks have investors. so we have the ability to pass on the savings onto our members. >> reporter: wells fargo ceo mark stump says maintaining the vast atm networks costs money. >> there have been studies done by the federal reserve and others that would suggest a checking account costs between 2 and $300 a year. >> the reality is we were all paying before. retailers were charging a little bit more for every box of pasta that you bought to help coffer some of these exchange fees. >> reporter: what's changed is new federal legislation now caps

what major banks can charge retailers for each debit card transaction, and now the banks are trying to make up for the losses by charging their customers. but as that emery professor points out, there is a much stronger psychological impact seeing that $3 or $5 monthly charge on your bank statement than when it's embedded in the cost of merchandise. jenna? jenna: an important point, jonathan. thank you. >> reporter: certainly. jon: well, halloween might just be a bright spot in a very scary economy right now. americans are spending more than ever to celebrate halloween this year. they were expected to dish out nearly $7 billion on decorations, costumes and, of course, candy. julie banderas live in new york city with that. >> reporter: yeah, well, apparently ghosts and goblins are not being afraid or spooked by the sluggish economy. and so people are really spending a lot of money this year.

and the second largest commercial holiday behind only christmas is booming. in fact, possibly propelled by the dismal summer, consumers will be gobbling up more treats than ever with over 160 million people planning on celebrating halloween, according to the national retail federation or the nrf since they began their survey nine years ago. and it's not just the kids that will be gobbling up the fun. while children between ages 5-14 will be out trick or treating tonight, more adults are dressing up. seven in ten americans or 68% of you plan to celebrate halloween. that's up from 63% last year. and those celebrating? they're spending too. total halloween spending is up. it's expected to reach nearly $7 billion, and sales of halloween stores are on the rise as well. even those temporary pop-up stores that open up are in the black. >> we notice an increase in sales. i don't know if economy's

getting better, but in any case, new yorkers are tough, they're ready to party, and they're going to spend no matter what. >> reporter: and so the nrf is saying that in an economy like this one, people just love to get out and let loose and have a little bit of fun, another reason halloween has shifted into a celebration for adults looking to escape the everyday, you know, bummer of our economy, i suppose. but they are spending money, some $70 on average for a costume. so i guess or adults are really getting into the fun, jon. jon and i spent a ton on canada. but, see, if i i bought too much, then i get to eat the leftovers. >> reporter: yeah, that's the only problem. how much? i'm just curious. jon: i bought something like 10 or 12 bags. it was around $30. >> reporter: it's unbelievable. i think it's fun. i think we need a pick me up, and nothing is better than watching little kids, you know, dressed up in little costumes as well. jon: that is the fun. and adults too. jenna: maybe you can bring in a little extra tomorrow.

jon: we'll see what i've got left over. jenna: an ohio teenager using halloween to help sick children, turning his garage and home to scare up donations for the make-a-wish foundation. he started working on this project about 10 months ago. ryan is the creator of scream acres located in cincinnati. so, ryan, 8 years old, you started thinking about this. where did you get the idea? >> well, we moved into our neighborhood, and our neighbors used to do something really small, and my son's neighbor was like, we should do something. so we went to my garage, bought some cheesy halloween decorations, you know, the little fake pumpkins, and that's where it all started. jenna: you don't necessarily associate scariness with donations. it's a really original idea to think about collecting donations to go into this haunted house. why did you pick make-a-wish

foundation? >> just because i really like the fact i can help children, you know, help their wishes come true while also doing something i love at the same time. jenna: so how does it work collecting donations in. >> when people come to our line, we ask if think want to donate for their ticket, and we have different levels of donations, and then that will benefit the make-a-wish foundation in the end. jenna: i'm seeing some of the footage on the screen, some scary clown, i don't know what we would call that girl. i'm a total wimp, ryan, even just looking at this could give me might theirs, so -- nightmares, so how scary is your haunted house? >> i'd say a 9 for most people. jenna: do people scream, run out of there? >> oh, yeah. there's people who have panic attacks inside. it gets pretty bad. jenna: oh, my goodness. what is the part of it that you love most, where do you get to express yourself the most when it comes to this haunted house? >> really the building and

creating it part is the part i love most. of course, i love scaring people, but i've not dressed up once this year. jenna: it takes eight months to put this together, is that right? ten months? >> yeah. we've been working since january. jenna: jon, do you think you'd be able to get through this haunted house? jon: i think i could get through the haunted house, but hes puts that together himself, some pretty amazing skills. jenna: ryan, how many people does it take to put this together, and how much does it cost to put on? is. >> um, i think we spent close to $3 or $4,000 this year. we have a couple people that help, but really solidly it's, you know, there's three of us that build it, and then we have a couple helpers that come on the weekends. but it's not a big crew that puts it together, but we do have about 25 actors a night. jenna: and they donate their time? >> yeah. and they all love doing it, too, so they want to do it. jenna: ryan, we put your facebook page up, we're going to put your contact information on

our site as well. we think it's a good idea for halloween, and we appreciate you're coming on. we understand you're missing class, but that's okay when you talk to the national news, right? >> yeah. jon: 600 people last year. let's get some more people through there this year. jenna: i like that. thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. jon: why some economists are worrying about what's on is supercommittee's chopping block. the former chief economist at the trade commission, peter mauer si, joins us next with why he thinks potential cuts and higher taxes will do more harm than good. [ male annouer ] juice drink too watery? ♪

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jon: the congressional supercommittee is working to trim the national debt, but some are worried ant what's on the chopping block if they don't get the job done. proposed cuts to defense along with some inevitable tax hikes are possible and whether or not the committee reaches a deal, it seems like democrats want both

of those things to pass, the defense cuts as well as the tax hikes. some say there is a better way, including our next guest. he's an economist at the university of maryland and former chief economist for the u.s. international trade commission, peter morrissey. peter, you wrote an interesting op-ed piece in which you suggest that raising taxes and cutting defense is not the way to go, and you make your argument based on our current level of defense spending. sum it up for us. >> well, simply defense spending after we take out the wars which is already scored in, that doesn't count in cutting back the deficit, you know, is not that high a level. u.s. force strength, the number of fighters, the age of fighter, the number of ships we have and so forth has been significantly reduced, and the fleets are older. on top of that, china's building a navy, our responsibility in the persian gulf don't go away, and we're going to have to counter china in the pacific. we need more, not less. jon: but china spends a

relatively small amount compared with our defense budget, right? that's the assumption. >> about 27 president. and if we go out in time at the rate they're growing with the cuts we're talking about, china will be spending two-thirds as much as we do, but it'll all be focused in the pacific. they will be able to accomplish dominance in the eastern pacific, and that really throws into question our ability to meet our obligations to australia, japan, taiwan and so forth. do we really want the pacific to be a chinese sphere of influence? jon: so you're saying that china although they might spend less, they don't have worldwide commitments. they don't have troops on the ground in korea, germany, other places we have forces. >> absolutely. and their spending is growing very rapidly, and ten years from now their boats will all be new. ours will not. you know, it's tough to learn how to build the first aircraft carrier. they've done that. now knocking out copies is not going to be so difficult. jon: interesting, you say that four years ago, 2007, the budget deficit was $161 billion?

what happened in four years? >> well, the democrats got ahold of congress, and in the name of stimulus spending, they permanently increased spending on social programs. spending on over and above inflation is up $800 billion, and 80% of that is medicare, medicaid, other entitlements of that kind. basically, they've been on a terrible spending spree, the american people are no better off, and now they want to raise taxes to make up the difference. that'll saddle business with just too many burdens to bear, too much overhead, and they're doing it already. they're taking the jobs overseas. jon: hard to believe that 2007 would be the good old days, but we've gone from a budget deficit of $161 billion to $1.3 trillion in four years? >> all you have to do is have a left-wing speaker, and you can run spending through the roof. now the republicans are being elected to roll it back. the president is characterizing them as the party of no. i would say they're the party of

sane versus the party of insane. jon: but democrats have said, you know, we department pass the tax increases -- we didn't pass the tax increases that we needed to pay for wars in afghanistan and iraq, for instance. >> well n2007 with both wars going full tilt, mr. bush's prescription drug coverage for seniors in place and the tax cuts, we had a deficit of $161 billion. how was it we were able to afford all those things when john bush was president -- george bush was president, but now we can't afford them with barack obama? the answer is they dramatically overburdened business with regulation which keeps us from growing, and on top of that, it costs money to implement all those regulations. so the government simply spends too much. tell me something, do you feel you get anything more out of your government today than you did four years ago? i don't, i don't get anything more. all i have is headaches. jon: and a very complicated tax system to boot. peter morici, good to talk to you, thanks. >> take care.

jenna: the world population reaching a major milestone today, but why is the birth of the seven billionth baby now the summit of a heated debate? -- subject of a heated debate? ♪ sweetie i think you need a little extra fiber in your diet. carol. fiber makes me sad. oh common. and how can you talk to me about fiber while you are eating a candy bar? you enjoy that. i am. [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one.

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jenna: a fox news alert, want to take you out to kansas now where the final three bodies of this, well, this terrible accident that happened over the weekend, a huge explosion in a grain elevator caused what you're seeing on your screen. the three final bodies have been recovered just to finish that thought there at the beginning, three final bodies have been recovered from this blast.

six people died, two others injuried and still searching is the reason why this happened. according to soargted press, some of the grain dust becomes combustible at the end of a harvest season, and this can cause something like this. so six people are dead, two others injured. as we learn more about this, we'll bring that to you. jon: well, several countries are claiming credit for a population milestone here on earth. as of today according to the united nations there are seven, count them, seven billion people living on our planet. the organization is warning the world's population could reach eight billion by 2025 and ten billion or more by the end of the century. steven mow scherr is president of the population research institute and has some thoughts about that. we have doubled the world population in the last 50 years s that right, stephen? >> absolutely. we've gone from three billion in 1960 to, in fact, more than

doubling to seven million today -- jon: and -- go ahead. >> and humanity's never been as prosperous. per capita incomes have more than doubled, life spans are longer, health care is better, we're actually percent off with more people than we were with fewer. jon: yeah. you point to the myth of overpopulation as you put it. you're not one of those who says the sky is falling because we've now got seven billion people on this globe. >> well, you know, if birth of baby seven billion p meant that life spans were starving because of shortage of grain, because health care was declining, then we wouldn't celebrate. but, in fact, we're in a celeb story mood at pri. we've actually baked a birthday cake, and tonight we're going to cut that cake for the little guy and sing happy birthday to him or her. jon: but there are problems. china still maintains that onerous one-child policy where, essentially, citizens are punished if they have more than one child. you got places like haiti where

entire hillsides have been denoded by people who have cut down the forest for firewood, right? >> well, you've got china where i was there in 1980 at the very beginning of the one-child policy. it was enforced then by arresting women for the crimes of being mr. president, for forcing them to have -- forcing them to have abortions. i'll tell you this, the chinese government is saying that it has eliminated 400 million people from the population by means of the one-child policy. and you have to ask yourself, is eliminating 400 million of the most productive, enterprising, hard working people the planet has ever seen a good idea? have they made themselves better off, or have they made themselves wore off? jon: so you argue they're making a mistake. >> well, i think, you know, human beings are the ultimate resource, the one resource you cannot do without. and when you start wantonly destroying that resource, you have to remember every mouth is backed by a creative brain. and every baby born is a blessing for the rest of us, for

their family, for their community, for the society, for the nation as a whole. we need more people, not fewer. they're finding that out in europe today, in italy and spain which are dying. jon: yeah. well, and the population is getting grayer. we're living longer as birthrates are declining, right? >> absolutely. we have a graying of the population going on worldwide. we have europe, everything in europe from ireland to european russia is literally dying. they're filling more coffins than cradles in that part of the world today. all of the developed countries have birthrates that are below replacement, they're having too few children to maintain the population. china because of the one-child policy now is forcing a nationwide labor shortage, and the population is graying with great rapidity. so they've set up a demographic trap for themselves that they're going to fall into in years to come. jon: interesting to see a silver lining on what some people might think of as a scary headline. thank you. jenna: well, herman cain making

headlines right here on "happening now." straight ahead, more reaction to his response earlier today and what it may mean for his campaign moving forward. what's better than gold ?

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jon: well, tomorrow as you know is november, and november marks a very big birthday, and that's part of the reason i'm wearing two very special pins on my lapel today. it is the 236th birthday, jenna, of the united states marine corps. jenna: and here i thought you just liked more jewelry. something more important than that. jon: well, a couple of nights ago members and sporters of the marine corps law enforcement foundation got together in new york, they were kind enough to invite me along. take a look. in the striped shirt because he is no longer active duty, marine sergeant dakota meyer, the newest recipient of the medal of honor. he's seen here with general james amos. here's dakota with barney barnum there in the center, he's a

cmoh, congressional medal of honor recipient for his heroics in vietnam. jenna: such a special group of people. jon: they are phenomenal. you see that guy on the right? you recognize him? jenna: that looks like a tough guy pose. jon: that's rick leften that would. he -- leventhal along with one of the marine heros of vietnam, patrick punch haines. jenna: i thought you were going to say after a couple of drinks. jon: one of our gracious restaurant hosts and jim colstrum, you might recognize him, frequent guest here on fox. he went on to head the new york office of the fbi. don peppy, the restaurant put on a spread for us all, and here's one of my favorites, patty mcgee and paul newman from the nypd pipes and drums emerald society, they were at my table along with peter pates, and it was a great